


The Sea's Other Child

by Midnightfire98



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Growing Up, Hades is a Good Parent, M/M, Percico - Freeform, Under the Sea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2018-09-26 23:36:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9930845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnightfire98/pseuds/Midnightfire98
Summary: Zeus almost found the di Angelos in the Lotus Hotel so Hades decides to move them. He sends Bianca to the hunters and turns Nico into a baby and gives him to Poseidon to raise.Idea from Takara Phoenix's story Ambassador of Hades, highly recommend it.





	1. The Beginning

There were a great many rules and courtesies that the gods followed. These included not interfering with their children's lives, not affecting the mortal world very often, and the most upheld custom, never entering another god's domain without express permission. There were exceptions to that custom of course, but nobody would ever dare to intrude on the domains of the big three gods, the eldest brothers of the pantheon, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.  
It was for this reason that when Poseidon felt another god's presence enter his domain without invitation, he was almost unsure on what to do. He grabbed his trident and snapped his fingers and instantly his clothes melted into battle armor. He sat on his throne, awaiting his visitor to arrive in his throne room. He could barely keep his expression neutral when his older brother Hades strode into the room. He couldn't keep his calm facade when he saw that his brother carrying a boy that looked to be a newborn baby in his arms.

“Well, this is a surprise brother. What is so important that you would come out from your domain and into mine?” 

Hades glared at his brother for a moment before sighing. “Poseidon, I have come to ask for a favor of you. And please hear me out before you deny me outright.” 

Poseidon narrowed his eyes at his brother, this was not the Hades he was used to. He seemed worried, unconfident, and almost emotional right now. He waved his hand, indicating for his brother to continue on, he would hear out what he had to say, it was clearly bothering him a lot. 

Hades cleared his throat and began. “First of all, I want you to know that I know of the existence of your son, Perseus in- ack!”

He did not get much further before Poseidon's hand was wrapped around his throat and he was slammed against the wall of the throne room. He stared into his younger brother's eyes and felt real fear for him for the first time in a long time. 

“You lay a hand on him” Poseidon growled out, “and I will make sure you have the worst traffic jams you have ever had. I will flood the underworld with souls for you to deal with if you even think of trying anything like what you did to Zeus’ daughter.” 

Hades pushed him off of him and took a moment to recover. Crying suddenly sounded throughout the room, echoing off the ancient palaces walls. Hades immediately rushed over to the little boy that had been pushed aside when Poseidon had attacked Hades. 

Poseidon watched in something akin to awe as Hades quieted the child down and comforted him. After a few minutes, the boy's cries died down and Hades turned back to Poseidon. 

“I told you to wait until I had finished brother. I have no plans to take your child from you, I only attacked Zeus’ child because he attacked mine.”

Poseidon took a step back in shock, he knew Zeus had broken the oath, but it was Hades who had instituted the oath, Poseidon did not think he would have been the one to break it.

“And before you get upset that I broke the oath,” Hades started again, “I never broke it. My children were born before the oath was made, but Zeus still hated the, so he killed them instead of having to worry about them. He blew up the hotel they were staying in with their mother. Their mother died,” here Hades seemed to falter, obviously overcome by emotion.

Poseidon stood there awkwardly, not really knowing how to deal with his older brother having this many feelings. After a few minutes, Hades seemed to recover and began again.

“I managed to save the children without Zeus finding out, erased their memories and hid them in the lair of the lotus-eaters. That way they'd be hidden from everyone's view and would live and not grow until I decided that it was safe.”

Poseidon nodded at this. It was a good plan. The nature of the lotus eater's spell prevented even gods from entering the place or changing anything in it. 

“However, someone betrayed me.” Poseidon started, very few people would be stupid enough to betray the god of the underworld. He was not known for his forgiving nature. 

“They told Zeus that they survived. I managed to kill the, before hey could tell him their location, but he got the general area of Nevada. So I had to move them. When I got to them, they had aged to be 10 and 12. I knew that I would have to act quickly if I wanted them to survive, so I decided my best hope was to leave them in the protection of other gods that I trusted. And that's why I am here. I want to propose a deal that would ensure my son's safety.”

Here hades paused, trying to gauge Poseidon's reaction to all of the information that he had just unloaded onto him. Poseidon sat silently for a few minutes, considering everything that had been said.

“You said children, yet you only mentioned leaving your son with me, is there another child? And who is this boy that you have next to you? He is far too young to be yours based on what you said.”

Hades almost danced with relief that he wasn't rejected outright but he knew he wasn't nearly there, he still had to convince his brother of his actual plan. 

“There are two of them, the girl, Bianca, was 12 and the boy, Nico, was 10. I left Bianca in the care of Artemis. She is a maiden so Artemis will protect her even against Zeus. And who this boy is will be explained in just a second.”

Poseidon nodded his head, accepting this. His niece Artemis was always a favorite of his, never allowing Zeus to control her. Hades’ choice of trusting his daughter to Artemis. 

“So what is this deal you spoke of, brother? While I admire your desire to protect your children, I don't see why I need to risk myself or my son for this.”

Hades knew this was coming, and knew also that this would be the hardest part of the entire conversation. 

“What I propose is to give you my son.”

Poseidon's mouth dropped this time. He couldn't help it, he was so surprised. There was nothing that could have prepared him for that. He had expected to be asked to hide the boy underwater, to allow him to live there, maybe to even provide a sacred island for the boy that Zeus would be unable to find, much like the prison of calypso that he created. This, however, this was something else entirely. 

Hades took advantage of his brother's stunned silence and forged ahead. “Your son will be the child of prophecy, there is no doubt about it now. With Thalia a tree, and my daughter in the hunters of Artemis, never to age, he will be the one to fulfill the prophecy.”

Here Poseidon raised a hand to stop him. “My son is only a year old, you said that yours was ten, would it not be your son that is the child of prophecy?”

Hades sighed a heavy sigh, this was the lynchpin moment of the whole ordeal. His next words would determine his child's fate. 

“This boy here is my son. I have de-aged him so that he is younger than your son is. And I have a good reason why!” 

He started to panic as Poseidon stood up in fury at the news that his son would now have to shoulder the responsibility of the prophecy. Poseidon sat back down glaring at him and waved at him to finish with his hand. 

“What I'm proposing is to give my son to you, well really to give him to your son. You know as well as I do that whenever the three of us fight, the one who wins is the one with one of the other on his side. I want to be on the winning side this time and, far more importantly, I want my son to be safe on the winning side. I want to join an alliance with you that will protect both of our children when Zeus come knocking to kill them. And I want to do this…”

Here Hades hesitated, before gathering all his courage and finishing, “by marrying them together.”

Silence filled the throne room like smog, as Poseidon stared in unabashed shock at Hades. The very idea of marrying his son when he was five to his older brother's son was… completely unexpected. He would have expected Zeus to step down before that ever happened. But here Hades was, proposing not only to tie his son and himself to Poseidon in gratitude but actually join the two together through marriage. 

As he stared into his older brother's eyes he realized exactly how much this boy meant to Hades, how far he was willing to go to ensure his safety. 

Hades grew nervous as Poseidon continued to just stare at him after his proposal. He subtly moved his child behind him, preparing to run with his son in tow. Just as he was about to teleport away, however, Poseidon began to speak.

“Let me see the boy, brother. If he is going to marry my son, I would like to at least hold him.” 

Hades let out a breath of relief and passed Nico over to Poseidon. Poseidon looked down at the young boy and sighed. It was going to be a while before the young one would meet his son, and longer still until he himself met his son, but this was a good plan to protect his own son. With Hades on his side, he would be able to stand up to anything Zeus tried to pull. 

It was going to be a long road for both boys, he just hoped that they came out of it all right. Poseidon leaned down and kissed the top of the boy's forehead, blessing him so that he would he shoe t subvert I'm the sea much like one of his own children would be able to. 

He summoned a naiad to take the boy and put him in his room while he and Hades discussed the finer points of their agreement. Several hours later hades finally left and Poseidon went to check on his new guest… possible son in law soon enough really. He walked into the royal nursery, where the naiad had set the boy up a crib and toys, and saw that his wife Amphitrite was standing in the room already. 

He let out a heavy sigh, he was hoping to have avoided this for as long as possible but he supposed that there was no avoiding it now. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. And she spun Around with Nico in her arms. She saw him and raised an eyebrow at him. She set the boy down in his crib to sleep and brushed past him out of the room.  
He followed behind her warily. They finally got back to the throne room, where all their best fights happen, and she stopped and turned around.

“So, would you like to explain the baby in the nursery to me or should I just start yelling now? Because I'm really favoring the second option right now, save us all some time.”  
Poseidon ran his hand over his face, Amphitrite got like this every time she found out about one of his children with another woman. She had ignored him for a month when she found out about Perseus and still wasn't happy with him about that. This just made it worse apparently. 

“That boy is not one of mine dear, a lot has happened and I have not yet had the chance to tell you.”

Amphitrite did not look impressed but motioned for him to continue, wanting to see where this was going. 

“That boy is the son of Hades that Zeus tried to kill about 70 years ago. Hades saved them, but Zeus almost found them again, so he came to me for help, and gave me the boy to raise as a bride to Perseus when he is grown as a way of solidifying an alliance between us.”  
He closed his eyes and waited for his wife to yell. When she didn't for several minutes he slowly opened his eyes again and saw her just staring at him, contemplatively. 

“You know,” she began “that I do not approve of bastard children on principle. However, this boy has never done anything wrong, nor is he your transgression. And even though he is for your mistake, I refuse to let that influence me. The boy will be loved, don't worry. The sea always nurtures its own, and he is now the seas.”

Poseidon slumped with relief onto his throne. The biggest obstacle was now taken care of. Amphitrite turned to leave, presumably to go take care of the baby again when she stopped right in front of the doors.

“Don't get me wrong though” she sad, glaring in Poseidon's direction, “you are still sleeping on the couch for the rest of the year at least.”


	2. Nico goes to School

Chapter 2  
Twelve years had passed since Poseidon had taken in the son of Hades, Nico. And those eleven years had been interesting. It had been centuries since the last time the sea God had had a child that wasn't a cyclops and so everyone was fascinated by him. It had taken a while for everyone to warm up to him, especially Triton who resented anyone being given special treatment over him, but eventually, everyone eventually fell in love with the boy. He had almost boundless energy and was always chatting and smiling with everyone. 

No matter how long the boy had lived in Atlantis, he never seems to stop being amazed by everything around him. As he grew, Poseidon and Amphitrite had taken to the boy as though he was their own, and so they gave him everything they could. They had also decided very early on to make sure he was aware of why he had been left underwater, and the deal his father had made with Poseidon. 

The day it came up had been very eventful. It was about six years after he had come to live down in Atlantis.

Nico was running through the halls of Poseidon’s palace. It was 6:30 and he was going to be late for dinner. Amphitrite was always nice, but the one thing she never took lightly was family dinners. He had been outside training with his sword teacher again and had lost track of time. He rushed up to the doors that lead to the dining room, took a moment to calm down, and then walked through the doors. 

Almost as soon as he walked through, he thought something was wrong. He couldn’t understand why, but he felt a lot of tension in the room. Poseidon and Amphitrite were sitting together at the end of the table, but Triton wasn’t there. That's what it was, Triton was never late for dinner, ever. He walked slowly up to the table and took his seat.

He picked up his knife and fork and began to eat, with Poseidon and Amphitrite doing the same. They ate for about half an hour without speaking at all, in fact, neither of them even looked at Nico the entire time. Finally, when he was unable to stand it anymore, they all finally finished eating, and they finally looked him in the eyes. 

“Nico we...we uh…” Poseidon began, looking like he was desperately grasping for words.

“Nico,” Amphitrite cut in, “We have something to talk to you about. First of all, you are aware that your real father is Hades, we have never hidden that from you. But, I must admit we have not been completely honest with you.”

Nico nodded for most of that, but as she got towards the end, he began to get confused. “What do you mean?”

Poseidon sighed before Amphitrite raised a hand to stop him and then began again. 

“Nico the truth is, in the very beginning, we made a deal with your father. In return for your protection here as long as you grew up, he promised us something.”

“I know, ” Nico said, even more confused. They had told him this several years ago. “In return for you keeping me safe, I would be yours, he gave up all rights to me.”

Poseidon looked uncomfortable. “That… that might not have been the full truth. Look Nico… A…” Poseidon seemed to steel himself. “We promised your hand in marriage to someone in return. For your protection, an arranged marriage was created between you and my son.”

Nico sat there in shock. His mouth fell open slightly as he looked at the people who had become like his mother and father in shock. Then he ran. He ran blindly through the halls of the palace, tears blurring his vision. How could they? Had it always been a lie? Just them pretending to be nice until they were ready to marry him off to some random person.   
Poseidon and Amphitrite sat in their chairs in the dining room and sighed. 

“Well?” Amphitrite asked, turning to Poseidon expectantly.

“Well, what? What do you want me to do?”

“You were the one that made the deal, you need to go fix it.” Amphitrite pointed towards the door, clearly waiting for Poseidon to get up and leave. 

Poseidon sighed and stood up and began to walk towards Nico’s room. When he got there he tried the door only to find it locked shut. He knocked on the door and put his ear next to it, trying to hear inside. 

“Nico? Could you please open the door? I want to explain what we just told you.”

No response. 

“Nico please.” 

He heard the lock click and the door slowly opened. He pushed it all the way open and walked inside. Nico was wrapped up in the sheets in his bed. Poseidon went and sat down at the foot of the bed. Nico shifted away from him.

“Nico, could you please just listen to me and let me explain?”

Nico rolled over a little so that he could see Poseidon. His eyes red from crying. 

“Nico, I’m not going to try and make excuses. When your dad first brought you here, he handed me this deal, and I said yes. I wanted my child to have a strong person on his side, and there you were. However, I… I have given up on that idea.” 

Nico looked up at him. “If you do not wish to marry my son, I will not make you. Your mother and I love you, and we will not force you into something that you do not want. But, please… just… try. Let me tell you about him, I think you’d really like him. But if you don’t then do not worry. It will be ok.”

Nico sat up and crossed his legs and looked up at him. Poseidon reached over and wiped the tears from his cheeks and then began to talk to him. He started to laugh when Poseidon told him how his son, Percy, had blown up a school bus with canon, or dropped his school class into a shark tank, and all these other stories about the little ADHD boy that he was apparently engaged to. About an hour later, Poseidon got stood up, kissed Nico on the head, and walked out. 

Nico had decided that he was willing to at least learn more about his son. Surprisingly, the idea that he was the same sex as Nico hadn’t even bothered him. Poseidon and Amphitrite had raised him to accept everyone for who they were, and really, he had always thought the princes looked better in Disney movies than the princesses.

 

As the years passed, and as Nico learned more and more about Percy Jackson, his betrothed. And the more he learned, the more he fell in love with him. To him, Percy was, quite literally, his prince charming. When Percy finally went camping Half-Blood and he became a hero after his first quest, there was little else Nico would be content talking about. It was always how brave Percy had been, and how strong. Now, several years after he had first been told about Percy, he was called to Poseidon’s throne room.

He was hardly ever called here, as he was not a Prince of Atlantis, he was not required to attend any meetings in the room so he had only been in there a couple of times, and every time he was called there, it was for something big. This just led to him being even more anxious as he walked there. When he reached the enormous doors, he knocked politely, before entering. Sitting on their thrones were his mom and dad, as Poseidon and Amphitrite like to be called, as well as Triton standing next to them. 

Nico walked forward and knelt before them as he knew was proper procedure before gods on their thrones, even ones who had given you piggy-back rides before. Poseidon waved for him to stand up. 

“Nico, You’re almost twelve now, and, as you know, Percy is coming back for his second summer at Camp Half-Blood this year.”

Nico nodded, he had been worried out of his mind, concerned that Percy would get caught up in some dangerous quest again. 

“I have received word from Chiron, the activities director there, that the magical Pine tree that creates and sustains the magical barrier around the camp, has been poisoned. Percy has yet to find out, though. He is still in school for a few more days.”

Nico let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He was glad Percy was going to be out of the way of harm for a little bit longer at least. 

“However, your mother and I believe that this would be the ideal opportunity for you to get to know him. We have decided to send you to his school, and then to camp as an ambassador from me. Are you ok with that?”

By the time Poseidon was done speaking Nico was bouncing up and down with excitement. He was finally going to get to meet his prince charming! He couldn't believe it! He was going to get to see him, and get to know him better, but what if he said something stupid, or made a fool of himself or, what was he going to where!?

Poseidon chuckled a little at Nico's internal meltdown before clearing his throat to get his attention.

“Today is a Saturday. You will leave for New York tomorrow. You have all of today to get packed and say good-bye.” 

Nico beamed at Poseidon and ran up and hugged both him and Amphitrite before running off again. He was so excited! The first thing he did was run to his room. He had to get his nicest clothes  
together, it wouldn’t do for him to meet his fiance while looking like a slob. He spent the next hour trying to decide over which shirts he liked best and what pants to wear. 

Finally he had packed up completely and started to go around the palace saying goodbye to everyone he knew. He had pretty much always stayed in the palace for his safety, so he had never had much of a chance to go out and meet other people. But now, he was about to leave the ocean entirely, all on his own. He couldn’t wait. Finally the day was over, his family had a large dinner together that night, to celebrate his new adventure and as a send off. 

He had trouble sleeping that night because he was so excited for what he was going to get to do tomorrow. He was finally going to meet his future husband. After all these years of just hearing about him.He eventually just passed out around midnight, and was shaken awake by Triton the next morning. 

“Come on, you're gonna be late. We’ve got to get you to New York and get you set up in an apartment before the day ends. Let's go.”

With that Triton walked out of the room. His relationship with Triton had always been an odd one. Unlike his father, Triton rarely expressed his emotions openly, seeing them as a sign of weakness. Instead he always seemed bitter, angry, and displeased. Nico knew this wasn’t the case. The last time he had gotten in trouble, Triton had been the one to rescue him. He was always saving Nico from danger, and truly did love him. He just had a hard time showing it. 

Nico got dressed, slipping on a tshirt and jeans. He wasn’t going to meet Percy today so why worry too much about what he looked like. He ran after Triton, finding him at the front doors of the palace with his bags. Poseidon and Amphitrite stood there as well. Amphitrite leat down and hugged and kissed him, and then poseidon put his hand on Nico’s shoulder. 

“Listen to me Nico. Your mother and I love you, and always want the best for you. And remember, if you end up not liking Percy, there is nothing wrong with that. We will love you always.” Then he pulled Nico into a hug. 

He let him go and nodded to Triton who saluted back at him. Then Nico and Triton walked out of the palace. Waiting for them were two hippocampi, Triton’s personal one, Tsunami, and a regular one for Nico. They hopped n and rode off for New York.  
They reached there about mid-day, after only a few hours. They washed up on the shore of Long Island. 

They walked up the sand dunes of the beach they had landed on towards the road and sitting on the road, waiting for them, was a dark blue sports car. Triton put Nico’s luggage into the trunk and then hopped into the driver's seat and they were off. It took them another two or three hours to reach where they were going. It was a really nice, expensive looking hotel. 

Triton pulled the car up to the front and handed the keys to a valet who drove off the car. 

“Dad decided to put us up in a hotel instead of renting an entire apartment out.”

“Us?” Nico asked, he thought it would just be him that was staying here.

"Yeah, Us. You’re a child of the big three, who has been raised by one of the other big three, going to school with another son of one of the big three. You’re going to attract some monsters. I’m here to keep any really annoying ones away, and also keep an eye on you.”

Nico shrugged, he guessed that was fair. Still, he had been kind of looking forward to just being on his own for once. THe rest of the day passed by quickly, and without much happening. He and Triton sat down and ate together, the first time in his life he wasn’t eating with his parents as well. It was an odd experience.   
That night he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. All the excitement about leaving the palace had exhausted him. 

He woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes and bacon and also an alarm clock. He looked over and saw that it was 7:00 . He walked out of his room and saw Triton sitting at the breakfast table in their hotel room with food in front of him. 

He looked over at Nio and pointed to a silver tray across from him. “Room service. Eat quick, you’ve got school to go to.”

All the sleepiness suddenly left Nico. School! He was going to school today! He was going to meet Percy! He couldn’t wait! He quickly scarfed down his pancakes and ran to get dressed. 

He put on the clothes he had planned out for the first day. It was a pair of maroon chinos with a navy blue button up short sleeve shirt. He liked darker colors, and thought that it looked good on him. He grabbed the backpack that was sitting by the door and eagerly waited for Triton to finish up his food so they could go. Finally Triton walked out with him and they got in Triton’s car and drove to the school. 

Nico jumped out of the car, waved to Triton and began to run up the steps of the schol. He couldn’t wait for his first day of school. Just as he reached the top though, he was so lost in thought that he didn’t look where he was going and ran full force into someone that was coming out of the school. THey tumbled backwards and Nico landed on top of them.

He looked down at the person he was currently on top of to apologize when he froze. Looking back at him, staring him straight in the eyes was the most gorgeous pair of eyes he had ever seen. They were a deep, rich sea green that sparkled with amusement. Those eyes were attached to the most handsome boy he had ever seen. Raven black hair, a thin swimmers body like build and a tan.

That’s when it hit him. He knew this boy, he was the spitting image of his da. There was only one person this could be. His fiance.

Percy Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Nico finds out why he is at Atlantis and the goes to school. Nico will be, if it is not obvious already, pretty out of character. Mainly because it is Bianca dying and him feeling unwanted that makes him who he is. Neither of those has happened so he is closer to his personality before Titan's Curse happens.


	3. The School Goes Boom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a terrible person. It has been forever since I have updated this story and I am really sorry about that. Summer is here now so I will try and update more. Thanks for reading. Enjoy.

Nico sat and stared at the boy for a minute, overwhelmed by the idea that this was him. It was! This was his prince, his knight in shining armor. He had finally met him. And made a fool of himself. 

Percy cleared his threat and stopped Nico from dying from embarrassment. Nico looked down and seemed to really finally understand what had happened. He squeaked and jumped off of Percy and rubbed the back of his neck nervously as Percy stood up. 

“I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going.”

Nico's face was flaming as he desperately tried to apologize. He couldn't believe this. He had plans to be all cool and suave walking into school and become friends with Percy and then get married and live happily ever after. Now all that was ruined! 

He looked up when he heard laughter. Not only had he ran over Percy, but now Percy was laughing at him. His day kept getting worse and worse. He just wanted to cry and go back home. 

“Don't worry about it,” Nico looked up when Percy started talking, “No damage done. I'm Percy Jackson by the way. I don’t tink I’ve seen you before, what's your name?”

“N-Nico di Angelo. I'm new to the school, it's my first day here.” Nico could barely get the words out. Percy didn’t seem to be upset, or angry, or even slightly annoyed about anything. He was being so nice!

Percy's eyes widened a little bit. “Oh, you're Nico? The front office told me to come and find you. I'm supposed to lead you there as soon as possible so you can get your schedule. Come on, it's this way.” 

And with that, Percy set off with Nico in tow. But now Nico was suspicious. This ‘fortunate’ meeting with Percy just reeked of his brother Tritons meddling. Nico almost started to pout but he decided to save it. It wouldn't look good in front of Percy, and Triton would soon get his, one quick call to a certain god and… a grin quickly formed as he plotted on how to get back at his brother. 

Then he realized that Percy was looking at him expectantly. Crap… he must have asked a question and Nico missed it in his plotting. 

“Sorry, could you say that again please?”

Percy smiled and nodded “I asked why you moved schools so late in the year. There's only a week left, why bother with school?”

Nico took a second. He had never thought of that. “Well… my dad had decided that it was time for a move, and I wanted to get to know people before summer so I wouldn't be the new kid all summer and then also when school starts again.” Yeah. Sure. That sounded plausible. 

Percy seemed to buy it at least as he nodded his head. “Yeah, I get that. I've been the new kid a lot too. But I'm sure you'll make some friends here.”

Nico nodded and they talked a little bit more before they reached the front office. Once they got there though, Percy waved him in but stood outside. Nico gave him a look of confusion. 

“I'm supposed to wait here for you. I'll be leading you around for the day apparently. Don't want you getting lost on your first day.” 

Nico walked into the office and was greeted by a major hippy vibe. It looked like a casual Friday gone wrong. Every teacher and adult in there was walking around in shorts and rock band t-shirts. He walked up to the secretary at the front desk and told them his name. He got his schedule and a quick rundown of the school rules and expectations which were… very few. He walked back out of the office half excited for the week half terrified. 

When he stepped out he saw someone standing next to the door. Percy had waited for him while he was in the office. 

He grinned and walked beside Nico as he walked through the halls. “I'm supposed to be your tour guide today, remember?”

Nicos eyes widened for a second before he nodded his head that yes, he did remember Percy saying that, he just hadn't thought it would be true. He walked slightly behind Percy, a litttle awe struck at the fact that he was being shown around a new school boy the boy he had only ever dreamed of meeting. Nico couldn't believe his luck! He listened to everything that Percy was saying, doing his best to both stare at him inconspicuously, and also learn where his classes were. He couldn't really remember where half of his classes were by the time they were done but that was ok. 

They walked into Percy's first period, English Nicos least favorite subject, and Nico got introduced to the teacher before taking his seat which happened to be behind Percy’s. next to him sat an enormous kid, over six feet tall and built like a brick wall. Percy said hello to him when they sat down and started talking to him. Nico glanced at the kid and his back tensed his mouth almost dropped in shock. 

That was no kid, that was a cyclops that, by his interaction with Percy, was either friendly or didn't know anything about what he really was. Nico relaxed slightly as he thought it through further, cyclops were typically under his dad's rule, so surely Percy would be ok… right? Nico decided to keep an eye on him but not do anything if he didn't have to. That'd be a bad impression he decided, to kill your finances friend before you even had your first date. 

The rest of the day passed relatively the same for Nico. He followed Percy around to all his classes, sat through what weren't really even lessons anymore, given that there was only a few day left of school, and finally the day was over. 

Nico waved goodbye to Percy as he walked to the front of the school where Triton was sitting with the largest grin Nico had ever seen on his face. Nico was going to find a way to wipe that grin right off his smug fishy face if it was the last thing he ever did. 

“So,” Triton started as he pulled away from the curb after Nico had gotten in the car, “how was your day?” As he asked this Triton smirked over at Nico, leaving Nico no doubt over what he was talking about. 

Nico decided to play along, for now, and flashed Triton the biggest smile he possibly could. “It was great! Percy is just so incredible he…” 

And as Triton drove them back to their hotel he told Triton all about Percy and his day with all the enthusiasm he really did feel. It didn’t stop him, however, from also planning on how to get back at his brother later. 

The rest of the week continued on like that for the most part, all the way up until the last day of school. It had started pretty simply for Nico, he woke up at about the same time and Triton drove him to school after breakfast. Once he got to school, he walked with Percy and Tyson, the brick wall kid, to each of his classes.

The only difference the while day was that Matt Sloan, local bully extraordinaire, had somehow managed to find some kids that were bigger, uglier, and dumber than he was. They were introduced as “exchange students” or something like that. They all had nametags on but they had filled them out with bizarre names like Marrow Sucker, Skull Eater, and Joe Bob. Nobody actually had names like that. 

Nothing much happened, all the way up until P.E. and then the all hades broke loose. It started off simple enough, with Mr. Nunley, an gross old man who barely moved unless forced to and payed attention to the class even less. Sloan had gotten him to let him pick the teams and so he proceeded to divide everyone that was strong or that he liked onto one side, and everyone else onto the other. Which meant his ugly buddies and him against Nico, Percy, and Tyson. 

The dodgeball game was about to start when Nico saw Tyson move closer to Percy and tell mutter “smell funny” before moving back a little. Percy looked at him, confused, but Nico understood what was happening quickly. Tyson was a monster, he could smell the difference between mortals and monsters. That meant that Sloan's buddies had given their real names, they were monsters here to kill Percy and Nico. 

Nico had just moved to warn Percy what was going to happen when he saw a streak of red flash in the corner of his eye. He watched as it struck Percy and knocked him down. Yep, definitely monsters. There was no possible way that a human could throw that fast. Nico dropped all pretenses and sprinted over to Percy and kneeled down next to him. After making sure that he was fine, Nico whirled around and glared at what were now clearly giants. 

They had grown to their full eight foot height and what had been dodgeballs had changed into bronze wiffelballs the size of cannonballs with fire pouring out of them. They had to be searing hot but the giants just picked them up like it was nothing. Nico saw Percy get up out of the corner of his eye and sighed, he hadn’t wanted to reveal who he was this early on but he had to now. He reached into his own shadow and withdrew his sword. 

It had been a gift from his father, Hades, several years ago when he had first started Sword training. It was made completely out of stygian iron and he had been shown that he could store weapons made of that metal in the shadows since he was a son of Hades. At the sight of the pitch black blade, the giants all took a step back and watched him warily. Percy also stared at him, transfixed by the sword and the boy he thought was normal until just now. 

Nico raised his sword and charged at them as fast as he could. That seemed to shock the Giants as well as Percy back into motion. Percy drew out a pen and uncapped it, allowing it to grow to the full length of Riptide. Nico ran up to one giant and ducked under his arm as he tried to grab him. He turned and cut through the giant's torso. He saw Percy off to the side cut off the head of another one. 

That left only four more to go. Nico ran at another, dropping and sliding under its legs while bringing his sword over his head to slice through it. Percy was cornered by two of the remaining giants so Nico ran to help him. He cut through one, only giving it time for a surprised grunt before it burst into a column of flames like its brothers had. The other one, realizing it wasn’t going to win, grabbed another ball and hurled it. Not at Percy or Nico, but at Tyson. Nico took off in a sprint to try and head off the ball somehow before it took him out while Percy swung his sword and seperated the giants legs from the rest of his body. 

Nico however, wasn’t moving fast enough to tstop the ball and it slammed into Tyson shortly after it was thrown. Tyson flew back ten feet but, miraculously, landed on his feet again. The incredibly clumsy Tyson, who had, just earlier in the day almost blown up a class room in chemistry, had miraculously caught the flaming ball and stayed on his feet. There was a moment of awe before it connected for Nico. Tyson was a cyclops. He was near impervious to any and all heat. 

He breathed a sigh of relief only to look over at Percy and see the last giant, Joe Bob, standing over Percy with his arms raised, ready to kill him. Nico screamed as he watched Joe Bob’s arms begin to swing down towards the boy he was in love with. Then suddenyl, Joe Bob’s arms froze where they were. Percy turned and jumped back from where he was, startled by how close the giant had gotten to him. 

Sprouting from Joe Bob’s chest was something that looked like a bronze horn, no. Not a horn, a dagger. Joe Bob exploded into a column of fire and standing there, in his place, was a girl with blonde hair, stormy gray eyes, and a tan. Nico knew who she was though, Annabeth Chase. One of Percy’s best friends. 

Matt Sloan was sitting in the middle of the gym floor, stuttering in shock over what had just happened. Annabeth marched up to him and looked him in the eyes. 

“Y-yo-you’re that… that girl…” He stuttered out nervously as she got to him.

“And you,” Annabeth said, glaring at him hard, “leave my friend alone.” And with that, she drew back her fist and punched him in the nose. Hard. In that instant, Nico’s respect for her went way up, he had wanted to hit Sloan since day one and was glad someone had. 

Percy looked up at her in awe. “Annabeth…” He stammered, “How… When… How long have you been…”

“All morning,” Annabeth said, correctly guessing the end of Percy’s question.

“So that means,” he said, “that that shadow in my bedroom this morning… that was…” Percy's face flushed red and instantly Nico’s like for Annabeth dropped back down. 

Annabeth's face went red as well. “I… I don't have time to explain. Look, we need you at camp. You need to come with me.” She then threw a glance over at me and Tyson. “You should probably bring them as well. Come on.” 

As soon as she said that, the doors to the gym burst open and several teachers rushed in. She slipped on a New York Yankees hat and disappeared in front of our eyes. 

Mr. Bonsai, the headmaster glanced around in horror before turning to Percy. “Mr. Jackson, what on earth…”

Percy yelled to Tyson to come on and grabbed Nico’s arm and pulled them through a hole that had been made by one of the flaming cannonballs. Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley nearby. She was leaning against a wall and looked as if she was hardcore planning a war, which, being a daughter of Athena, she very well could be. As soon as we got there she sighed and pushed off of the wall. 

She walked up to Percy “I’ve got a lot of questions, for both you,” she jerked her thumb towards Nico, “And him. As well as some about your other friend. But they will have to wait. We need to get to camp and fast. A lot has happened that you need to know about.”

Percy looked at Nico and Tyson worriedly, probably concerned that they had heard something they shouldn’t have, which was silly because he had just seen Nico fight just as well as him, but oh well. “And how do you suggest we do that?” he asked her, “We can't exactly summon a magic chariot to take us there do we?”

Annabeth smiled at that, “Actually,” she said, “That’s not such a bad idea. You got any Drachma?”

Percy handed over a gold coin. “Why? What are you going to do with it?”

Annabeth smiled, “Summon a magic chariot of course.”


	4. Nico Beats Some Bulls and Bites the Dust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rights and everything for the characters and general plot, of course, go to Rick Riordan. I did take a decent amount bit from the actual book for the taxi scene because it is so long and agonizing to write. In exchange, however, the chapter is longer than usual.

Annabeth stepped out towards the street and held up the coin. 

“Anakoche” she shouted in ancient Greek. “Harma epitribeios!”

Like it always did when someone spoke in the language of Olympus, Nico’s brain automatically translated it for him. She’d said “Stop, Chariot of the Damned”

Then she threw the coin down into the pavement, but instead of hitting it, the coin sunk into the pavement.

For a moment nothing happened, but then the pavement began to bubble. It then began to darken into a deep crimson red that looked like blood. From that puddle, a cab rose. 

It looked exactly like a regular New York taxi except that it was a smokey gray color. Not so much that it was a gray color, but that it looked like it was made out of smoke. On the door was printed the words RGAY SRISTES in big letters. 

A crazed-looking woman stuck her head out of the window. She had ratty looking hair and her skin was a leathery gray color. Her eyes were wild and she was mumbling as though she had just taken a shot of Novocaine. 

“Passage? Passage?” Her voice sounded like she smoked at least seven packs of cigarettes each day. 

Annabeth stepped forward. “Four to Camp-Half Blood.” Then she opened the door and ushered us inside. 

“Wait!” The driver screamed, “We don’t take his kind!”

She pointed her bony finger at Tyson. 

Percy looked at her incredulously, and so did Nico, though Nico understood why she would say that. If this was the cab he thought it was, the drivers were temperamental at best, and having a  
cyclops on board might be too much for them. 

Annabeth sighed. “We will pay extra.” The woman lowered her hand. “Three more drachma on arrival.”

The woman nodded and pulled back into the cab. Percy got in first but there was only going to be enough room for three people so as Nico got in, Percy apologized to him but then pulled him into his lap. 

Nico’s face when bright red and he did his best not to hyperventilate as he tried to settle into Percy’s lap and did his best not curl up into him. 

He had always imagined what it would be like to have Percy’s arms around him but he didn’t think the first time it happened would be while they were both hot, sweaty, and covered in monster dust with a cyclops on one side, and three crazy ladies in front of them.

He didn’t have a whole lot of time to contemplate what was going on when one of the sisters, the one behind the wheel, floored the accelerator, and Nico’s head slammed into Percy's chest.  
The cab zipped along through New York at breakneck speeds. A voice came over the speakers “Hello, this is Ganymede cupbearer to Lord Zeus. And when I’m out buying wine for the Lord of the skies I always buckle up.”

Nico looked down beside Percy and him and saw a thick black chain where the seatbelt would be. He decided that he wasn’t that desperate… yet. 

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!" 

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained. Wait a minute. Nico thought, give her the eye?

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!" "Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. 

Nico felt Percy shift beneath him.

"Excuse me," Percy said. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

He looked over at Annabeth. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

Next to us, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good." 

"Oh, man," Percy muttered under his breath. "Hang in there, big guy.” He looked around. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"

Anger suddenly screamed out “Turn! That was your turn!" 

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing Nico and Percy between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and they shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, Nico realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!" 

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said, "we're going to die!"

Nico turned around as much as he could and shot Percy an exasperated look to which Percy just grinned back at him. 

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!" 

"The location you seek!" Tempest added. 

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?" Percy asked. "What location? I'm not seeking any—" 

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!" 

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed. 

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!" 

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!" 

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into Nico’s lap. 

Percy jumped when the flying ball landed near him and when he did he accidentally hit Nico’s head against the ceiling. This cause Nico to flinch and the eye rolled off his lap onto the floor. 

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed. 

"I don't have it!" Percy said.

"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!" "I'm not picking that up!"

The taxi slammed into the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Annabeth," Percy yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!" 

"Are you crazy?” She yelled back. “Get the eye!"

Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. It hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.

Percy still was looking at the eye in disgust, completely against picking it up so Nico bent down and grabbed the eye. 

"Nice boy!" Anger cried as if she somehow knew he had her missing peeper. "Give it back!" 

"Not until you explain," Nico told her. "What were you talking about, the location he seeks?"

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

They all looked out the windows. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. They were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"Hey kid," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces." 

Nico shook his head "First they have to tell me," he said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!" 

"I'm rolling down the window."

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!" 

They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.

"What do you mean?" Nico asked. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero. 

"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Get him to give them the eye now!" 

Percy nudged Nico with his arm. “Come on man, give them the eye back.”

Nico sighed and nodded, he couldn’t tell Percy no and he didn’t want to die just yet so he threw it back into the front seat. 

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!”

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

"All right," Percy told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean." 

"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."

Nico was about to ask why, when he looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood. At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

All four of them got out and took off towards the top of the hill. As they ran they all took out their weapons, Annabeth took out her knife, Percy uncapped Riptide, and Nico’s appeared out of a shadow. Tyson followed closely behind them, looking nervous but staying near Percy.

As they got closer they saw a group of campers rallying behind a single leader facing off against two large fiery bulls charging through the camp's boundaries. Percy stopped in fear, no monster should have been able to do that, the magic should have stopped them.

To make matters worse, the campers were clearly losing. Every time they tried to get in a formation, the bulls would charge and bust through them and disrupt them all. As they all approached the raging battle Percy, Nico, and Annabeth had to stop as the heat got way too intense. 

“Damn.” Annabeth swore. “Those are the Colchis Bulls, we can’t get anywhere close to them without Medea’s SPF 50,000 without burning up.”

“Medi- what?” Percy asked.

Annabeth continued on without responding. “I had a jar of coconut scent on my bedside table, why didn’t I bring it?”

Percy just shook his head and then faced the bulls again. “We can’t leave them alone. Tyson, stay here, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

And with that Percy sprinted towards the bulls. As he did Nico’s heart skipped a beat, he knew danger followed Percy around like a plague but being there in front of it gave him anxiety. And it didn’t get any better as the fight went on. 

Percy seemed to be ok for a little bit but it quickly went downhill. Annabeth also charged in as Nico stood there, frozen. Annabeth did a good job of distracting the bulls by turning invisible and running among them and stabbing them as they passed. 

One of the bulls soon lost interest in Annabeth thought and wheeled around behind the head warrior and charged at her unprotected back.

Percy ran towards her and screamed “Clarisse! Watch out! Behind you!”

The camper, Clarisse apparently, turned to face Percy and didn’t get set for the bull. Percy sprinted up shoved her out of the way of the bull but in doing so put himself right in the path of the charging metal beast. 

That’s when Nico snapped. He didn’t see a battle anymore, all he saw was the boy he was in love with, his betrothed, about to get smashed by a huge bull. He screamed in fear and rage and he sunk into his own shadow and reappeared out of Percy's shadow between him and the bull and charged at the bull. When he was close enough he dropped to the ground and slid under the bull, sword held in the air above him, slicing the monster in two. 

The bulls two parts had barely fallen to the ground before Nico sunk into his shadow again and shot out from the second bulls shadow beneath it, creating a massive hole in its stomach before running in front of it and slicing its head off. 

He straightened up to see Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, and the other campers staring at him in awe. Then he felt light headed and he fell onto the ground. As his vision went black he could see Percy run towards him and kneel beside him. 

His only thought was ‘Damn, that’s the second time I’ve fallen in front of him in a week. I’ll never live this down.’ Then he lost consciousness.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nico woke up with a pounding headache in a very soft bed, not as nice as the ones in Atlantis, but definitely better than the hotel he had been staying in. He looked up as his head swam and saw a massive blonde haired, blue-eyed figure standing in the room. And by blue-eyed, he meant his entire body was covered in blinking and moving blue eyes. He couldn't manage to keep his eyes open though and he fell back asleep. 

The next time Nico woke up it was Percy that he saw, standing over him. He was spoon feeding Nico something that tasted a lot like popcorn only it was a pudding. Percy smirked down at him as he scraped drips off his chin with the spoon. When he saw Nico's eyes open, Percy asked: "Who are you?"

Nico knew he'd been caught and was trying to form a response when there was a knock at the door and Percy filled his mouth with pudding again. 

The next time he woke up, Percy was gone and Nico would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed by that, he wasn't really sure if Percy had ever actually been there or if he had just dreamed him up. Wouldn't be the first time. He slowly got out of bed and moved out of the room. He had been dressed in pajamas and didn't know where his clothes were so he just kept the pajamas on. Nico walked outside and sighed, he could see a large meadow leading up to green hills in the background. The breeze smelled like strawberries. It was exactly like camp had been described to him. 

Sitting at a table on the porch was a middle age looking man in tweed with a kind face playing cards with a short, pudgy man with bloodshot eyes and a scowl. The man in tweed made eye contact with Nico and he smiled. 

"Well, our newest resident is awake. It's nice to see you up and about Mr. Di Angelo."

Nico's eyes got wide when the man said his name, nobody was supposed to know about him. 

The man chuckled. "Do not worry young man. Lord Poseidon has informed me of your situation. I have not told anyone else, nor do I plan to anytime soon. I must admit though, we were starting to get a little worried. You were out for three days." 

Nico's jaw dropped a little. "Th-three days?" In his head Nico's mind was racing, not only had he been out for three days, but this random guy knew his secrets? This was not good.

"Indeed." Nico snapped out of his thoughts as the man began to speak again. "But you are clearly much better now. My name is Chiron, I am the activities director of Camp Half-Blood. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Nico breathed a silent sigh of relief. So this was Chiron then. Poseidon had told him that he would be informing the activities director of the camp that he was an ambassador from Poseidon but would refrain from mentioning his heritage or the part about him being engaged to Percy.

Nico saw the other man narrow his eyes at him. "Well, then Nigel, would you like to play cards? Your tour guide appears to be late."

Nico nodded and sat across from him. Now that he got a better look at him, Nico recognized this man. This was Dionysus, god of wine and insanity and you simply did not refuse a god's request to play cards directly in front of them, well within smiting distance.

They were just getting to their second hand of the game when they heard steps on the porch. Chiron and Nico moved their heads to look at the noise. It was Percy, walking up the steps to the porch. Chiron nodded in greeting, Nico grinned and couldn't help but wave enthusiastically at him which Percy returned, making Nico even more excited, while Dionysus summoned a diet coke and looked thoroughly bored out of his mind.

"Ah, Perseus," Chiron said, wheeling himself away from the table. It was at that moment Nico realized he was in a wheelchair for the first time. "Would you mind showing the young Mr. Di Angelo around camp? I'm afraid that I have to be off to a class."

Then he turned to Dionysus, "If you would excuse me Mr. D."

Dionysus, or Mr. D apparently, waved his hand absentmindedly and Chiron nodded to him and then stood up. More accurately he came out of his wheelchair. Emerging, attached to his torso was a horses body. Nico nodded, unsurprised. He had been told about Chiron, trainer of heroes before he came to camp.

Chiron trotted off towards the archery range, visible in the distance, presumably for whatever class that he was going to.

Percy walked up to Nico and slung his arm around his shoulders. "Did you know you drool in your sleep?"

Nico's head snapped to look at Percy in horror, feeling the heat rise on his cheeks. So he hadn't been dreaming after all. It was Percy that had looked after him while he was out. And not only that, apparently he drooled! He was going to die of embarrassment, he had drooled all over himself in front of Percy! 

Percy started to laugh. At Nico's confused look he explained "You don't really. It's just something someone told me when I was in a similar position so I wanted to try it. You should have seen your face!"

Nico crossed his arms and pouted. He couldn't believe he had gotten riled up like that. 

Percy did his best to stop laughing and calm down. "Don't worry about it dude, you were actually pretty cute when you were sleeping."

Nico's face, which had just been returning to normal, lit up once again. Percy's face, after he had a second to process what he had just said, took on a similar shade of bright red.

"I mean- not cute, cute... you know... like... cute in a friendly way...?"

Both of them were thoroughly embarrassed by this point and desperately looking for a way out. And it came in the form of a grumpy drunk.

"Would you two please leave if you're going to be maddeningly obnoxious? Some of us have important things to do."

This came from Mr. D, who looked as if the only important thing he had to do was finish off yet another Diet Coke. Percy nodded to him anyways and pulled Nico down off the porch behind him. 

"Sorry about all that." he said, "Mr. D never provides the warmest of welcomes." He seemed to be skipping over the whole debacle right before Mr. D cut in and so, Nico decided, he would do the same.

"Now come on, let me show you your new home." And with that, Percy grabbed Nico's hand and dragged him off to see the camp for the first time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important changes to the continuity of the story. I started to try and write this with Percy and Nico being age appropriate, that being 12-13 for Percy and 11-12 for Nico and me really just couldn't. I didn't like the ages. So I have messed with their ages a little bit. Nico is now 13-14 as is Percy. That's the only really big change. Sorry, an update took so long.

Nico shot up in a bed with a gasp. He had just had the worst nightmare. He had dreamed that he had finally been introduced to Percy and that everything had gone completely wrong. He had run into him, literally, and completely made a fool of himself and then he had watched Percy almost get killed by two flaming bulls and finally, to top it all off, he had fainted in front of Percy as if he was a  
little girl. 

After catching his breath he looked around at where he was. He started to get worried again when he saw that he was not in his usual bed in Atlantis then he saw the other person in the room. With a small squeak that sounded like a mouse being stepped on, he realized who it was. 

There, in a chair next to his bed lay Percy, sound asleep, as if he had passed out while watching over Nico. That thought made Nico smile a bit before reality hit him once again. 

It wasn’t a dream. He hadn’t made up everything that had happened, it was all real. He really had made a fool of himself in front of his, hopefully, future fiance. Gods, if Triton every found out, and he would, he would never let it go until the ends of time. 

He groaned and that seemed to rouse Percy from his sleep as he shifted and sat up. He rubbed his eyes a little and stared blearily up at Nico before his eyes widened as he realized that Nico was awake. 

“You’re up!” he said, “I was so worried about you. You just fell over and passed out. Are you feeling ok?”

Nico’s face turned bright red at Percy’s words. It was bad enough that he had passed out in front of the one guy he wanted to impress but he had just realized, if he passed out, someone had to have carried him here. That someone could very well have been Percy. Regardless, Percy had sat by his bed long enough to fall asleep by him. 

Nico just nodded to Percy that he was ok, not fully trusting his voice to respond correctly in these circumstances. Percy sighed in relief. 

“I’m glad, after the second day, we were all getting a little concerned.”

Nico stared at Percy in disbelief. “Two days? I’ve been out for two days straight?”

When Nico said this Percy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Kinda- I mean you woke up a few times but it was always for a really short time. It was usually around meal times. The ambrosia and nectar seemed to help you wake up a little.”

Nico nodded and looked away. He was so embarrassed by the whole thing that he couldn't bring himself to look at Percy anymore. 

Percy didn’t seem to notice his reluctance to even look in his direction though and kept on talking.

“Several of the older campers took turns watching over you,” 

‘So it wasn’t just Percy.’ Thought Nico.

“I’ll admit I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep but maybe that can stay between just the two of us yeah?” when Nico nodded Percy continued, “Anyways, it was mainly Apollo kids, being children   
of the god of medicine and all, that took care of you.”

If Percy noticed Nico’s sad face when he said that, he didn’t mention it. 

“Speaking of them, they left strict instructions for whoever was with you when you woke up the next time. I'm supposed to go and grab one of them so they can look you over. I’ll be right back.”

With that Percy stood up and strode out of the room, leaving Nico alone with his thoughts. 

Thoughts that were revolving almost exclusively around the green-eyed beauty that had just walked out of the doors. While he had talked to Percy a little at the school, he hadn’t had much time to really just sit and think about him. 

He was so kind, and courageous, and handsome, and adorable, and goofy as he had always imagined him to be. In just the short amount of time that he had been around Percy, Nico had become even more sure about being in love with the boy. Everything he did and said just made Nico like him more and more. Just being around him was intoxicating. 

As he continued to daydream about his crush, he heard a knock at the door that jolted him from his thoughts. 

“Come in,” he said, shaking himself of his thoughts. 

Percy walked in followed by a boy about his age with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a perfect tan. A son of Apollo. 

“Hi, Nico. This is Alex. He’s the current head of the Apollo cabin and our head healer at camp. He’s going to check up on you.”

Alex nodded at Nico and immediately went to the side of his bed and began to check his vitals.

“Well,” Percy said, “I’ve been avoiding cleaning my cabin for long enough, so I’ll be off. If you need anything, Nico, I’m in Cabin 3.”

And with that Percy disappeared through the door again. Nico sighed deeply as he left. 

“I know right?” Alex said to Nico.

“What?”

Alex laughed and pulled a stethoscope from around his neck to listen to Nico’s heart. 

“That look you were giving him, nearly everybody at camp has had that look before. What nearly every girl and some of the boys too would give for him to look their way too.”

Nico didn’t like the sound of that. Percy was his, nobody else was going to get him. What did Alex mean by all that? 

WIthout realizing it Nico had begun frowning angrily at the door. Alex started to laugh. 

“I must admit your crush has come on a little fast. Most newbies fall for him after at least a few days.”

Nico forced himself to calm down. He couldn’t be so openly possessive about Percy right off the bat. It wouldn’t look good if he did. He desperately wanted to go and find Percy and talk to him but knew it probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do. 

He relaxed again as Alex continued to work on him, checking and double checking to make sure that he was perfectly fine and healthy before he would let him go. 

After about another half an hour, Alex finally told him he was cleared to leave if he would like. Nico told him he would so Alex led him down to the large, wrap-around porch and over to a table where a guy in a wheelchair, a fat middle-aged alcoholic, and a satyr were all sitting playing cards. He recognized the first two as Chiron and Dionysus respectively from pictures of them that Poseidon had shown him.

Alex leaned down and whispered in Chiron’s ear which caused Chiron to look at Nico curiously. 

“Very well Alex, thank you for your work. You may go back to regular activities now.”

Alex nodded and walked off towards a large field Nico could see in the distance. Chiron turned to Nico. 

“Well Mr. di Angelo, would you like to sit and play some cards with us? Your tour guide should be here soon.”

Nico knew he couldn’t refuse Chiron’s offer so he sat down and waited for the hand to end so he could be dealt in. They sat and played pinochle for a little while, Chiron soundly beating everyone every single time. While they played they talked about some things around the camp, how things worked, rewards and punishments, boring, managerial things like that. 

They were in their fifth hand when the blonde girl from before walked up to the porch. Annie-something

Once she got up to the porch and to the table Chiron put down his cards and turned to smile at her. “Annabeth, I’m glad for you to join us. I just finished telling young Mr. di Angelo about the basic rules around camp. Just in time for your tour.”

Annabeth stared at Chiron for a long moment before looking over at Nico. Her eyes narrowed slightly before she nodded briskly. 

“Very well Chiron I will show him around. Is he claimed?”

Chiron shook his head. “No, he is not.” Then Chiron turned to Nico, “being claimed means that your godly parent has recognized you officially in camp. Given your fighting skills, I doubt this information is too surprising to you?”

Something in the way that Chiron looked at him made Nico think that Chiron knew a lot more than he let on. Nico just nodded his agreement though. Better to give away as little information as possible, made it easier to lie. 

“Cabin eleven then Annabeth.”

Annabeth nodded and began to walk off. Once she was off the porch and a few steps away she looked back behind her to Nico who hadn’t moved yet. 

“Well?” she demanded, “Are you coming or what?”

Nico quickly got up to follow her. She led him around the camp, showing him the Colosseum, the dining pavilion, training grounds, archery range, the climbing wall, and several other things before she finally got to the cabins. 

An arch of cabins sat in the center of the camp, centered around a large fire with a small girl sat beside it tending to it. She smiled and waved at him as he walked past and he waved back. Annabeth walked to the front of the two largest cabins in the circle and turned around to face him. 

“Ok, these are the cabins. There are twelve of them, one for each of the Olympian gods. Zeus and Hera are the two up front. Each cabin holds the gods' children and is themed after the gods themselves. For example, the one that looks like a greenhouse with the grass on the roof is Demeter. Understand?”

Nico nodded his head before asking, “What cabin are you in?”

Annabeth gave him a searching look before pointing to a plain grey building, “Cabin 6, Athena.”

“And which one is cabin 3?”

Annabeth’s eyes narrowed a bit when he asked that. She pointed over to a long, low-lying cabin with seashells all over it. “Poseidon.”

Nico nodded his head. He had kinda already guessed that one, it was kinda obvious. 

Annabeth started walking again, talking as she went. “You’ll be staying in cabin eleven. Hermes cabin. They take in Hermes kids as well as any unclaimed kids as Hermes is the god of travelers so he doesn’t turn anyone out.”

The cabin they were headed to was severely worn down and in need of a paint-job and remodeling, and really just being demolished and rebuilt. When they reached the door Annabeth knocked on it and it opened and a blonde head popped out and looked at them before throwing the door open. 

“Annabeth!” the boy yelled before wrapping her in a hug she seemed to be completely against. “It’s been too long. You should come around more often, maybe we could get you to lighten up a little bit more.”

Annabeth pushed his arms off of her but still gave him a small smile. “That’ll be the day Travis. Now, where is Connor? I have a new camper for you two.”

The boy, Travis, turned behind him and screamed “HEY! CONNOR! GET YOUR SKINNY BUTT OVER HERE!” before turning back towards them and motioning them inside. The inside was just as bad, if not worse than the outside. 

It looked like the stereotypical summer camp cabin except that it wasn't just the bunks that were full. In just about every space there was either a hammock or a sleeping bag or, sometimes, both. 

Once they had taken a few steps inside Travis turned and looked at Nico. “So, Hermes or unclaimed?” he asked, more to Annabeth than to Nico. 

“Unclaimed” Annabeth responded. 

A few kids nearby heard that and groaned in response before another kid walking up behind them that looked identical to Travis smacked them on the head. 

“Now, now, children. We are the children of the god of travelers. It is our duty to house people with a smile. Now chop, chop. Get your things cleaned up. Cabin inspection is in fifteen minutes.”

The kids moved off, presumably to pretend to clean until they could sneak away again. 

“Sorry about them,” the boy, Connor, said. “It’s just pretty crowded in here already.”

Travis elbowed him in the side, “Don't be fooled by this guy's ‘responsible leader’ act newbie, he’s just as much of a troublemaker as the rest of us.”

At this Connor put his hand on his chest in mock outrage, complete with an overdramatic gasp. “Why sir, you do infringe upon my honor. Nothing will solve this but a duel.” 

At which point both boys began to hop around pretending to do kung-fu moves at each other. This went on for just a few seconds before Annabeth cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at the two of them. 

They stopped what they were doing and shrugged sheepishly. “Alright, we’ll stop,” Travis said

“We’ve got the newbie from here Annie-dear. You’re good to leave if you want.” Connor followed up. 

Annabeth nodded at them both and then walked out without so much as a word to Nico. 

She had been like that the entire time she was showing Nico around, cold and brusque, as if Nico had somehow personally offended her. Nico was left to puzzle about her behavior as the two boys, the cabin counselors he found out, began to explain the rules to him and tried to find him a place to sleep.

A couple of hours later, once Nico was finally settled into his new cabin, complete with stolen toiletries, compliments of the Hermes cabin at large, the cabin went to dinner. According to Travis and Connor, this was the only meal of the day that everyone had to attend all together and after it was done there would be a campfire since today was Friday. 

When they walked into the pavilion, all the kids grabbed their plates and food began to appear on them. Nico looked over at Travis confused. 

"Just ask it for what you want," he said, "The nymphs fill it automatically." 

Nico looked at his plate and shrugged. "Fettucini Alfredo please and an iced tea." 

On command, his plate and goblet filled up with what he requested. Once it was full he followed the rest of his cabins lead and stood up and walked towards the large brazier that stood in the pavilion to sacrifice his food. 

When he got there he threw in about a fourth of his food and made a prayer. "To Hermes, thank you for letting me stay in your cabin. To Poseidon, I'm here dad, I'm at camp."

Once he was done he moved on and sat back down in his place and started to eat. He was about halfway through eating, having a fun time talking and joking with the Hermes campers when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and immediately his heart started to beat faster. There stood Percy, looking like he had come from a swim right before dinner and had allowed his hair to get wet.

"Hey Nico," he said, the Hermes campers on his left slid down a bit so Percy could lean in and be eye level with Nico. "I just wanted to make sure that you were doing ok. I didn't see you after you left the Big House."

It took Nico a few seconds to respond. "I... um... well that is... I mean... I'm good... All better... um... Percy. Promise." 

Percy nodded and stood back up. "I'm glad." He just stood there for a second before becoming a little self-conscious. "Well, I should probably... um... go. See you later Nico."

With that Percy walked away, back to his own table. Once he left, everyone around him started talking again. He finished dinner in relative peace after he got his heart to calm down a little bit. 

After dinner, everybody stood up and filtered their way towards the campfire. Not everybody went, Nico noticed, but the vast majority got there pretty quickly. Nico sat down next to his cabin when he first got there but As he was sitting down Percy came by again. 

"Hey Nico, I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to sit over with me and some of my friends? I know you're with your cabin and all, and its cool if you don't want to but..."

"I would love to!" Nico said cutting Percy off. Maybe that was a little too enthusiastic he thought but he couldn't help it. Percy had asked him to sit with him. He was so happy. Nico waved to Travis and Connor before following Percy. Neither noticed as Travis and Connor smirked at each other and then began a betting pool. 

Nico followed Percy over to where Annabeth sat with a satyr, ok so maybe not the best idea. Sure it was great to be over by Percy, but Annabeth had been cold towards him all day long and he didn't know why. Nico sat nervously by them, caught between his joy of being near Percy and his fear of Annabeth. The satyr, Grover he found out his name was, was a saving grace for him. Grover seemed to be fully aware of the tension even if Percy was not and kept everyone busy talking. 

By the time the campfire was over Annabeth was no longer giving him the evil eye so that was a definite improvement. She hadn't warmed up to him by any means but she wasn't actively annoyed by him. He walked back to his cabin-mates happy with how the night had gone. But he also wondered when he would get claimed, or if he ever would. As he fell asleep though all he could think about was a pair of sea-green eyes.


End file.
